Chapter 290: Life Goes On Even After A Game Has Ended Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
As the HP of both bosses drew infinitely close to one-third of their original values, an impatient strike snaked out from the Lich Walker’s hiding spot; he had unleashed pelts of devastating necromancy on the two bosses, reducing their remaining HP by a huge amount!
Suddenly, a small, black meatball-like monster with a blue headband began to pursue the Lich Walker relentlessly. The ensuing onslaught left the skeletal Voidwalker no choice but to run in any direction, screaming; he had no idea on how to retaliate.
As he fled like a dog being stoned, the Lich Walker whimpered, “Why does this always happen to me?!”
With a nuisance like the Lich Walker gone, the skirmish took a leap in an optimistic direction for the Connection Cronies. The a.s.sa.s.sin Walker, who gripped an eccentric dagger that looked like a claw engulfed in red hot flame and blue icy flame, hurled herself at her senior, the Hitman Walker.
“Wait… this weapon!” The Hitman Walker mumbled as he dodged her attacks while looking at the strange weapon.
“Frost Fire Warp Claw — pretty expensive stuff!” Lady a.s.sa.s.sin grinned before charging at him once again.
At the same time, the Paladin Walker suddenly stopped attacking the bosses. He looked at both bosses and noticed that not only had their HPs each dipped below one-third of its original value, but their silky socks had also been torn apart in the cla.s.sic sense of clothing damage, leaving their fair skin exposed. Both bosses wore plaintive, pleading expressions.
Hence, the Paladin Walker decided to lower his weapon.
“What the h.e.l.l are you doing?! Now’s the time to hurt them as much as you can!” The Blacksmith panicked.
“Enough… is enough…” The Paladin Walker muttered to no one in particular. He stood still, tanking the bosses’ weak fisticuffs.
“What the h.e.l.l are you saying?!” The Blacksmith was beyond surprised.
“I said… Enough is enough!” The Paladin Walker raised his voice in dejection as his own HP fell steadily. “I’m done going against my beliefs and conviction! This… This is just a game, after all!”
“Why—the—f*ck did you go mental now?! You think this is Dunkirk in 1940?!” The Blacksmith exclaimed, using a reference that no one there actually understood. However, he could only watch as the Paladin’s HP hit the floor.
“My teammates! My comrades! Please… Forgive my betrayal… I’m coming… back…” The Paladin Walker looked into the eyes of the beautiful bosses and used his last strength to utter, “So…. kawaii…”
The Paladin Walker left the game, and the League of Gentlemen was no more. They may not have had a colorful game report to present, but they were men of conviction, men of beliefs 1 !
As the game continued, the Lich Walker returned to the main battlefield after running in a large circle with the black meatball monster in tow. Although the Lich Walker was unable to fend off the little meatball devil, who had been hot on his heels in a chase that had caused many of his bones to burn away, the Voidwalker was still a powerful fighter — a dangerous threat, to be precise.
As soon as the Lich Walker arrived back at the battlefield he instantly killed the Scholar, who had been standing at the back line, providing technical support. He also easily repelled the Caveman Walker’s and the Sorcerer Walker’s a.s.saults!
To make matters worse, the only remedy that was able to curb this killer, the black meatball monster, had somehow changed its target to the Blacksmith. Now the poor working-cla.s.s Voidwalker had to flee from its restless oncoming attacks…
Was the Lich Walker now the boss that the other players would have to contain?
The Knight Walker instinctively recognized the danger which that threat posed, despite the fact that he was currently fighting the Warrior Walker. He stopped fighting her and declared loudly, “My friends! The real enemy is this immoral, demonic heretic! He will only spit on your face if you fight him with honor and knightly courtesy, so no quarters and defeat him!”
“What’s the matter? Itching to return to your pretentious role of the Arbiter of ‘Justice’? What shall I do now, dearest Knight? Lower my weapon and beg for your forgiveness and mercy?” The Lich snarled in his signature low and hoa.r.s.e voice.
“The only mercy I could show to an unrepentant sinner like you is to make your death come quicker!”
“Look me in the eyes, and tremble before the force of death! You and your idiotic ragtag band will never be able to lay a hand on me!”
The battle had officially escalated into an epic showdown. Two sides threw themselves into the fight with reckless abandon. The powers emanating from their sudden clash tore the air apart and ignited the sky with flames. The world trembled at the force of their attacks!
Hence, every one of them forgot about the two bosses that were already on the verge of dying.
As the Voidwalkers cast all of their skills and utilized all of their battle philosophy in this civil war, the smaller boss of the two suddenly looked at the sky. Her mouth opened and closed; she was mouthing a countdown. Understandably, the Voidwalkers who were already absorbed in their last showdown did not notice her.
Suddenly, the smaller boss took out a strange trinket. This trinket was a fluffy, friendly-looking hammerhead shark plus.h.i.+e…
Upon its emergence, the plus.h.i.+e began to spin and soared upwards to the stratosphere. Its size quickly expanded and blocked out the sun, the clouds, the sky, and—
— everything was no more. The game had ended, and every player had died.
“Hey, what gives?! We haven’t even finished our last showdown!” The Knight cried oud in lividity.
“Didn’t you notice that bosses for this level actually had a time limit in which you had to defeat them? Of course, they would go berserk when the time was up!” Baiyi replied indignantly. At that moment, the sky in the real world had already brightened up. Upstairs, sounds of the students waking and sitting up from their bed could be heard.
The game really did have to end.
On the flip side, the Archmage was not b.u.mmed at the sudden climax of the game. He laughed heartily, “Hahaha! Well, sure, none of us actually won, but wasn’t the game terribly stimulating? We should enjoy the journey of the game, not the end result, after all.”
“I agree! I had h.e.l.la fun!” The Caveman Walker added, feeling satisfied.
“Thank you so much, Sir Hope,” the Hitman Walker was more upfront about his grat.i.tude to Baiyi.
Seeing his teammates’ responses, the Knight did not want to look like he’s the only one who could not let go. He mumbled his thanks to Baiyi before returning to his normal taciturn self.
“Well, that’s all folks. Have fun chatting; I gotta torment the little kids out there.” With that, Baiyi took his leave, and sure enough, none of the Voidwalkers seemed to mind or care. They were still absorbed in discussing the previous game, a.n.a.lyzing the strengths and weakness of their strategies and stats modifications. On top of that, the members discussed the lessons they had learned and the issues they had faced while working together. This continued until they started laying out tactics for another round of a similar game in the future.
“Friends! Our team was never weak, neither were we not apt for combat. We were just wrong strategically. We should have used our buffs and boosts on Sir Apprentice, not on those unreliable NPCs. Also, you guys should really have trusted me more with enough reward points so that I can concoct stronger elixirs…”
“You c.r.a.ppy bag of bones! You actually got fooled by that conman, instead of believing in me! Haha! How ironic! His t.i.tle is the Charlatan, and yet, you still chose to believe him. Has your brain been eroded into bone dust?”
“Ahahahah! Dude, have you ever seen a Lich with brains? I mean, they are all bones!”
“We were a great team! In fact, all of you were indispensable to me, for I was able to fight comfortably with the knowledge that my back will always be covered by my most trusted nakama! But, of course, we got some of our strategies a little messed up, too. For example, the roles which Sir Hitman and Sir Sorcerer took on were not properly managed. You two were tanks, so the roles the both of you played had overlapped. Next time, Sir Hitman could try upgrading himself to become a berserker. Meanwhile, Sir Sorcerer… you can do even without magic, so next time you should not spend your reward points on strengthening your magic. All you need is to use ‘Lumos’, me-thinks.”
“Alright! Order, order! The Gentlemen’s meeting for today is to give out judgment on Sir Paladin; he betrayed us! Although he did repent and remembered who he was at the last moment, I still think we have much to discuss…”
With everyone engaged in their own enthusiastic discussion, Baiyi found himself feeling a little lonely. He shook his head in mild dejection, and his hand went for the door.
Suddenly, a trademark chilly voice echoed in his ear. “I had a lot of fun today. Thank you so much.”
The owner of the voice, the Warrior Walker, poked him with her consciousness; the poke seemed made to resemble a very soft peck.
Another voice chimed in peppily. “I! Haven’t! Had! This! Much! Fun! For a loooong time! Gosh, that was so exciting… So fine, thank you, Dum-Dum!”
After that, the a.s.sa.s.sin Walker followed the Warrior’s example and gave him a very soft peck with her consciousness.
‘Huh? What happened to these Salty Sisters today?’ Baiyi thought as he turned his attention to the Scholar.
Seeing Baiyi look at her, she began to panick. “W-watch where you cast your gaze, okay? Y-you still have m-m-many conditions to meet if you desire one from me! I-I’m not as easily impressed as they are…”
‘Lady, I just wanted to ask you if you had fun. I have no idea where you’re going with this,’ Baiyi thought to himself, feeling amused. He ignored her and went to prepare his lessons.
After a peaceful day in the real world, the Voidwalkers were still discussing the game that had undergone. Even when Baiyi was about to obtain his ranking result from the Sorcerer a.s.sociation and receive his exam mission, the Voidwalkers did not show any interest. Even after a day and a night, the enthusiasm some of the Voidwalkers felt had still not died out…
‘Uh, I’ll just let them be.’ Baiyi stepped onto a hoverdisc, which was headed for a meeting room. When the hoverdisc reached its destination, Baiyi saw the Joseph waving at him. Baiyi acknowledged the greeting and walked into the meeting room, sitting next to his future employee.
“My wife agreed with the proposal, and she would like you to know that she is very grateful,” Joseph whispered. His face was bright — the look of someone had when they were excited about the future.
“That’s good news! If you have time, you can come and check my place out. I can also help to arrange accommodation for you and your family so that your wife and your daughter could both be around you,” Baiyi pleasantly said. He handed the cla.s.s schedule that he had worked on the night before to the young lad. “Tell me if you face any problems.”
“Understood.” Joseph took the letter respectfully, then tucked it into his pocket meticulously. “However, my wife and daughter also manage the family farm and mill, while I… I’m used to staying with them there. So you really don’t need to worry about me.”
“Well, whatever floats your boat.” Baiyi was not the type to fixate on the personal preferences of others.
Other candidates slowly trudged into the room as Baiyi and Joseph continued chatting. One of them took notice of the Fifth Walker and suddenly sighed in sympathy. He shook his head and said, with concern, “Hey, don’t think of ranking exams as too big of a deal, alright? Your true innate capability is your real strength, okay?”
Meaning… he was sure that Baiyi would not pa.s.s…